18th Annual New York in Bloom

Part of the main lobby display by David Michael Schmidt of Renaissance Floral Design.

Every February, the New York State Museum hosts New York in Bloom, a three-day event that incorporates over 100 floral arrangements into the State Museum's exhibit space and special workshops on gardening and floral design into the State Museum's educational calendar. New York in Bloom has become an Albany tradition -- a lush and fragrant break from February's cold, snow, and ice.

New York in Bloom is also a fundraiser for an excellent cause: the State Museum's after-school programs for area children and teenagers. Most of the young people enrolled in these programs live in poverty, and the State Museum's programs provide things to which they might not otherwise have access: intensive academic support (adults help the teens, and the teens are paid a small stipend to tutor the younger kids), help with visiting and applying to colleges, educational field trips, and lots of hands-on learning using the Museum's collections. To date, all of the teens enrolled in the program have graduated from high school, and more than 90 percent of them have gotten into college.

I was planning on seeing New York in Bloom tomorrow, but a snowstorm is coming our way tomorrow morning, and I thought it best to run over and make sure that I got to take in at least some of the event. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Arrangement by David Johnson Pawling of Pawling Flower Shop, in front of a Christmas Seals design by artist and author Rockwell Kent; the State Museum's Rockwell Kent: This Is My Own exhibit -- which I strongly recommend -- will be open until May 17 of this year.

A well-heeled tourist in one of the Adirondack Recreation displays, with an arrangement by the SUNY Cobleskill Plant Science Department.

Louise Kavanaugh of the Bethlehem Garden Club created this arrangement, which sits next to two fishermen in an Adirondack Wilderness display.

A 19th century steam locomotive, with an arrangement by Verena Takekoshi and Sue Scott of Garden Explorers.

James Coe's Barn and Tree Swallows on a Dairy Farm, with an arrangement by Cindy Campbell of the Blue Creek Garden Club.

Flowers really complement Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Experience, an exhibit that brings together the traditionally African-American art forms of quilting and jazz; this exhibit closes on March 1, so now is the time to see it! The above arrangement, created by Audrey Hawkins of the Fort Orange Garden Club, sits adjacent to Valerie C. White's Ohio River Blues Man (l) and Valerie C. White's Blow Trane Blow (r.)

Pamela Love of the Rensselaer Garden Club has created an arrangement that nicely compliments Iris Simmons's Ode to Moderne.

Carolyn Crump's The Spirit of Rita, with an arrangement by Tammy Delia of Renaissance Floral Design.

During New York in Bloom, the Museum's Bird Hall is transformed into a series of room-sized table arrangements such as this wedding reception hall created by Rudy Grant and David Siders of Experience and Creative Design.

Douglas Fisher of Design by Douglas turned another section of the Bird Hall into a retro-modern bar.

If the weather permits, I'm planning to go back to the State Museum tomorrow and visit the galleries I didn't have time to see today. However, even if I don't get the chance, I'll be happy: the indoor flowers of New York in Bloom are a harbinger of the outdoor flowers of New York in bloom.